Apple Pies

Let's get the knitting content out of the way, you know, just in case anyone stops by to actually see knitting. (Ha!)
I'd like to apologize right up front for the quality of the pictures today. The sky is a sort of soul-sucking grey so I couldn't get very nice light.

I finished the Boot Socks and here they are:

TJ's Boot Socks
The Specs:
The Yarn: SRK On Your Toes Sock Yarn, DK weight, 1 skein Blue and one skein Grey (although their colors are just numbers)
The Needles: US size 4 bamboo
The Pattern: Just a basic plain stockinette sock with contrasting heels and toes.
The Size: Knit to Men's size 13
The Recipient: My Brother-in-Law TJ will be getting these for Christmas.
Notes: I was very worried that I would run out of this skein of the grey yarn. I have another, set aside for another pair of socks but I wanted this one to last through these socks, it did. I don't know if there's enough to do a blue pair with grey heels and toes but that's what I want to work on next.

As soon as this is finished and I get my size 4 dpns back that is:

What is it? All will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Okay, back to the title of the post.
Tomorrow is the day I lose my mind. Why you may ask? I am packing up everything I will need and trucking in an hour to cook a large Thanksgiving-style dinner for 13.
Yeah, I know, nuts I tell you. In order to prepare for that meal, I am baking 2 apple pies today. (The only thing that anyone else is doing is making a pumpkin dessert so I don't need to do pumpkin pies.)
I like to cook and this is for a big group of our friends and they are pitching in money to help with cost and all that but I still think I'm nuts.
We did a meal several years ago for them (right after we got married) and it was a ton of fun. The problem this year is that this is my kitchen.

See the wall on the left in the bottom corner? That's the end of the kitchen. The Fridge is the other side of the kitchen. It's small.
As a person who likes to cook and bake and does both often, you would think, what was she thinking moving to a place with this tiny of a kitchen.
The answer is that it wasn't the only factor in our moving here. Cost as well as closet space were bigger factors. You can't see it but there's a decent pantry closet next to that red plastic shelf thing. That makes it do-able. I still worried about the kitchen but once I got it organized and I got into a groove it isn't bad. It's actually convenient to not have to wander back and forth all the time but because of the size of kitchen, here is my counter.

Yeah, you see that? It's about 2 square feet. That's where I'm rolling out pie crust. Right next to the stove. That's why my homemade from scratch pie crusts are so soft (despite my having refrigerated them). The bottom crusts kinda look like Dr. Frankenstein made them.
Too bad, so sad. I think I might tell the guys that if they say one word about the crusts tomorrow (ya know, except for "Wow these are absolutely beautiful homemade pie crusts. You are an amazingly talented woman") that they won't be getting ANY pie. Or dinner for that matter.

Just sayin'

In which I deal with housework

Since today I am finishing (I hope) the boot socks, which look the same and working on the secret project that I can't post until it is gifted, I don't have any pictures today.
As a matter of fact, I don't think I'm very interesting at all today. I'm going to chatter away anyway, so feel free to skip ahead.

I have never spoken of my relationship with housework here on the blog.

I Hate it.

I work very part-time and so, I am home more than not. That makes pretty much all the household stuff my responsibility. Not that it wasn't when I was working full-time. (Hubby is not a "clean" person.)
That means that my normal list of things to do looks like this:
Get up
Make the bed
Plan dinner
Buy Groceries
Run all other household errands
Wash dishes
Do the laundry
Make Dinner
Vacuum (when I do)
Dust (when I do)
Clean the bathroom
etc.

My husband's list of things to do looks like this:
go to work
Take out the Recycling (when wife reminds you repeatedly and the recycling is overflowing)
Take out the garbage (when wife reminds you)

I have a natural tendency to not want to clean but I want things to be clean so I end up doing it anyway. We are both Stashers. We have lots of crap. To me, it should be organized so I can find stuff and my brain doesn't expend all its energy thinking about how nice it would be if things were clean because I want them clean and organized. Then I spend all my time organizing.

This month isn't going to be pretty.
In order to get all my knitting done, I think I'm going to have to let go of my obsessive need to tidy things up. I don't know if I can do it. Today, I was going to work solely on the secret project so I gave myself leave to watch movies and lay about. Here's what I did today:

Get up, make coffee, brush teeth, wash face, make the bed, get dressed, drink coffee while making english muffin for breakfast, eat english muffin, watch TV while knitting, get up several times to do other things, Start a movie (Pirates of the Caribbean the Curse of the Black Pearl for anyone interested in those things.), try to sit still and knit, chat with my brother on Messenger, talk to my mom on the phone, try to knit, chat with my brother some more, send several work-related emails, go to kitchen to make lunch, put away clean dishes first, make lunch, sit at computer chatting with brother while eating lunch, blog, worry about other chores that need to be done today, drink coffee, work on boot socks instead of secret project.

Yeah, I'm not doing so hot. I may need one of those nifty schedules people have been talking about.

Wednesdays are for ???

Yesterday I got caught up in "normal world" stuff so the blogging did not happen.
Since we are down to one car as long as hubby's has the doughnut tire on it, I took him to work and had to run all my errands for this week. Then I had Open Crochet night.
Tuesdays were for Crochet but I only crocheted at Crochet night. The afghan is coming along. I think I have 8 or nine strips done so I'm getting there. Soon I will lay them out and start connecting but until I do it's pretty boring to look at.

In other news, more related to knitting, I have started up the Christmas list with great gusto. (It makes me feel so much better to have all these projects started. Like I will somehow get done faster if they are all on the needles at once.)
These are the boot socks for my Brother-in-Law. As you can see, I have one done and the other is started. They are DK weight so they're quick! I love that.


Since I finished my Sister-in-Law's Monkey socks, I started up the other Sister-in-Law's Monkey socks. I'm loving the colors of this yarn and I'm hoping that she will too. They're coming along but I have to pay attention to the pattern so they aren't great for TV viewing.

I have several other projects on the needles too but some of them are Not-for-Blog content since some people might be stopping by (is anyone there?!) who might be getting gifts from me.

I forgot to mention that over the holiday weekend, my niece decided to take over my camera and take some pictures of me. We had taken some pictures of her so it was only fair. She's five but she managed to take this nifty picture of me and hubby in front of the fireplace at my parents' house. Then she made him leave so she could take 25 more pictures of me. Including an extreme closeup of my earring and my necklace. They have since been deleted but some of the other pics she took of me weren't so bad. This one turned out kinda cute though so I thought I'd share.

Home and Happy

We arrived home last night after a quite adventurous weekend. It was "interesting" to say the least.

Everything started with Wednesday. I got up and packed up everything that I would need. This was for a four-day weekend so it was quite a bit. (Especially of knitting and crocheting. I mean, heaven forbid I should run out!) Then, I knew that I HAD to get to the Department of Motor Vehicles before we left town so that I could renew my license. I also realized that I had to get new registration for my car because it had already expired. What? How did that happen.
I packed up my pack-pack. (A friend's kids always call their backpack a packpack and I think it's so cute that I have adopted it.) I packed two knitting projects because I wasn't sure if I would need them or not. After all, I have heard horror stories of trips to the DMV taking hours and I am new in town, I didn't know if I would have to wait or not. I managed to find it okay after the directions a friend gave me. (Although I did have a scare of a cop driving right next to me on the way there. I drive quite nicely but I was so scared he would notice the expired tabs ON MY WAY to renew them. I mean, what would be the chance he would believe me?!)
I found the DMV with very little trouble and way overfed the meter, just in case of a wait. I was in and out very quickly, despite the over $70.00 price tag. Ouch. I was home in about an hour.
Since I had some time and I knew hubby would be anxious to go as soon as he arrived home at 1:00pm, I packed up everything for him as well.

I may have accidentally cast on a new project on the way to my parents' house but it was for Christmas so we will overlook it.

Wednesday night we stayed at my parents and I helped dutifully with the dinner on Thursday. It was yummy and almost the whole family stuck around for the game-playing later on too.

We spent the night and then on Friday my mom and I did a little shopping on BLACK Friday. We didn't go super early so it was busy but not crazy. We did get some super good deals though.
Exhausted we headed back to her house where we lounged and played games together, just her and I, although my dad did join us for a couple games of Farkle.

Saturday morning, my mom had to get up super early (as she usually does) to go help her friend paint her house. It was okay with us because we had to leave to go to Carnage Con.
We spent the day flying our geek flag, playing such games as Star Wars Monopoly with a roomful of loud gamers. It was a blast except for the flat tire on hubby's car. Yeah, it's totally ruined too.

In the Good News department, I did manage to finish something in between games.

These are my Sister-in-law's Monkey Socks.
The Specs:
The Yarn: Plymouth Italian Collection Sockotta (45% Cotton, 40% Superwash Wool, 15% Nylon) in color 6056
The Needles: I used size 2 Bamboo needles
The Size: Ladies Medium although they're quite stretchy, I think they might even be able to go to a smallish large. (does that make sense at all?!)
The Pattern: Monkey of course.
The Recipient: (Always important this time of year) my Sister-in-Law
Notes: This was stash yarn and while I do like the pattern, it's not my favorite yarn. I don't hate it so I would knit with it again but cotton is not my first choice for socks.

Sometime after midnight, we trooped across country to his parents house where we spent the night and got up on my Birthday. Yay! (I'm so sad a little cake doesn't show up like on Ravelry.) We did our family Thanksgiving celebration with his family that day and had a good time altogether. We bowled on his Sis-in-Law's Wii where I earned my new nickname - Guest E because that's the character I played instead of creating a Mii.
I manged to finish the socks that I had started on the start of our weekend, way back on Wednesday too!

They are socks for my little Niece Delia for Christmas.
The Specs:
The Yarn: Kroy Sock Yarn in Coal, about a third of one skein and Kroy Stripes Sock Yarn in Krazy Stripes, nearly one whole skein
The Needles: Size 2 Bamboo needles
The Size: Children's Size 11
The Pattern: I improvised this design but it's something like the Yarn Harlot's Rainbow Peerie Socks (scroll down) from a few years ago.
The Recipient: My niece Delia of course.
Notes: This was a fun knit. Here's a close-up of the pattern, although the color is all off.

Knitting socks for kids (although it's dangerous, since they may not like them and will immediately outgrow them) is Super Fast. Why didn't anyone tell me that. I finished the first sock on Wednesday night, mere hours after I had started it and if I hadn't been so busy with other things, I would have finished the other immediately on Thursday.
Here's the size for scale.

I've pictured them helpfully next to the Monkey socks, although, I have to be honest with you, the monkeys kinda scrunch up.

We headed home on our little donut tire last night and got home safe and sound. Exhausted but safe.

The bad news is that we now have to save up for hubby to buy two new tires for his car. They're expensive because he has the fancy car with the low profile and the other side is pretty well shot too. *sigh* Yarn Diet anyone?

Birthday List

Since Sunday is my birthday (ack! 29. Does anyone else feel like they should have accomplished more at their age than they have?) and my husband is a chronic procrastinator. I know he hasn't shopped for me at all yet. I would like to offer the following suggestions.
1. The obvious Knit Picks Gift Certificate. You know this because I left that "subtle hint" of a catalog page on your pillow.
2. Gift Certificates to other stores I frequent. Including, but not limited to: Bonnie's Spinning Wheel, Uniquely Knit, Barnes & Noble and Crafts Direct.
3. Yarn. Like really good Malabrigo or some nice sock yarn. Ask the ladies at the Yarn Stores, they will help you and yes, it really does cost that much.
4. Certificates for time to knit, this would be coupled with you doing things like washing dishes, making dinner or doing other chores around the house so I don't have to.
5. The Yarn Harlot Books. She has two new ones out: Things I learned from Knitting (Whether I Wanted To or Not) and Free Range Knitter. I have neither.
6. Movies. They are not at the top of my list but they are there. I like movies but I have gotten a lot of them from you in the last few years, stick to yarn.
Thanks,
kalkette

In other news.
It's Tuesday and so it's for Crochet but I am currently knitting a sock and procrastinating doing anything else. Thanks.

Drinking Coffee and Denial about Nanowrimo

Last week I sort of disappeared and I didn't even get a chance to tell you about our Knit Night at Caribou coffee. It was fun and I came away with some gorgeous stuff but we'll talk about that another time.
The reason I disappeared (and believe me, I had a good one) was because I headed down to my mom's house. While there, her dog decided to wake me up at 3:00 am and 4:00 am so he could go out. One of the kittens also decided to pose for me:
This is Ewok and how can you resist that face?!

The real reason I went to my mom's was so I could go to a baby shower for these guys:

Twin boys born to a cousin. Yeah, they're pretty cute. They are doing great too. They are 5 weeks old here and the guy on the left is almost 8 pounds and the guy on the right is 6 and a half. I could've spent all day snuggling them but that's the thing about a baby shower, you have to share.

After another busy weekend, we headed home and now I'm getting ready for this week.

This week is Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and so, the week is a little crazy and it hasn't even really started yet. Basically, it looks like this:
Sunday: Get home from the weekend, try to write on NanoWriMo.
Monday: Crochet 101 class tonight, try to write.
Tuesday: Open Crochet night tonight, try to write.
Wednesday: Try to write and finish up (notice I'm at like 25,000 words, yeah, I have a long way to go.) Hubby gets done with work at 1pm and we are going down to my parent's house to spend the night so everything at home has to get done before we leave.
Thursday: Thanksgiving Day, have a meal with my family and spend the day playing with my niece.
Friday: I'm not sure yet but it won't involve being at home.
Saturday: Gaming Convention in New London known as Carnage Con, spend the night at in-laws following this.
Sunday: My birthday and also the day we will be celebrating Thanksgiving with my in-laws. While this will be fun, I estimate that I will be about 12x more exhausted than I would like to be by then.

Somewhere in there I have to: Bake an apple pie to take along to in-laws, renew my license and tabs for my car because they expire on my birthday (Sunday) and finish my NaNo novel.
Yeah, I may be insane by Sunday night when I finally get home.

In actual knitting news:

The Sock-Ease Socks are done.
The specs:
The Pattern: Just the Basic Sock Recipe again, I like it because I can knit without looking so it's excellent for the dark or for TV watching.
The Yarn: Lion Brand Sock-Ease in color 201, Rock Candy. This was my first time knitting with this yarn. It was inexpensive and they turned out quite nice. Not my favorite yarn but I would probably knit with it again.
The Needles: Bamboo, US size 2
The Size: Knit to Men's size 13.
The Recipient: My Step-brother Chris.
Notes: Since i hadn't knit with this before and I knew I would be knitting quite long socks I made the legs very short (only about 4" including ribbing) so I wouldn't run out of yarn. I had this much leftover.

Please excuse the crappy pictures, not only is it very grey and cloudy here today but I've drunk so much coffee while stressing out about my busy week that I'm a little shaky. The pictures from last week are more accurate color-wise.

I also started the first pair of DK weight Boot Socks.

They are knit on 4s and since I have never knit DK weight socks before, I guessed at the number to cast on but it looks pretty good.
So, where does all that leave me with my Christmas knitting? Well, it's 4 weeks to Christmas and I have approximately 8 pairs of socks left to knit, not to mention my other projects too. Yeah, I may not make it.

I may or may not have time to blog again this week, we'll see, if not, I'll see you all next week.

P.S. Does anyone know anything about Thrummed Mittens? I have a plan to knit some for myself once Christmas is done.

The Haul

I didn't even mention it but yesterday was Tuesday making it for Crochet. I'm not working on anything new though. I took my afghan and got another strip of it done. It's coming along (6 are finished and the pattern calls for 12 so I'm halfway) but it looks exactly the same so I won't bore you with pictures.
Yesterday I mentioned that I made a stopover at the Yarn store on my way into Willmar. I mostly got things for Christmas Knitting although there were a very few things to help me keep my sanity as I dredge through it. (I find it hard to think giving thoughts as you frantically try to figure out if you can somehow manage to fit all your normal life stuff in as well as finish your Christmas projects.) I may have somehow also accidentally picked up a couple of things last night at Crafts Direct too while I was there. This is pretty much what I got:

As you can see, there's quite a bit. I got the Interweave Knits Holiday gifts issue. and a whole bunch of sock yarn plus a couple of skeins of Patons Classic wool. This isn't even close to everything that I am knitting for Christmas but the green on the left isn't for Christmas. That's just for me. (ha ha! Selfish!) I picked up another set of Bamboo dpns in size 2 because mine seem to have a death wish lately and keep breaking at unfortunate moments.
Here's a question: Do you think that it helps to cast everything on? Then you can work on this or that or back and forth or do you think it's better to stick to just a few projects, that having too many on the needles when you're at a deadline is crazy-making? I might take advice although I'll probably still be crazy by Christmas Eve.
I got one pattern that I intend to get the yarn for later. I think it will be my reward project for when I'm done with all the Christmas stuff. Check it out here. (Scroll down, it's the Knit/Purl Bag) I'm not sure if I'll do it with the dowels, we'll see. So excited!

Pins and Needles

You've all probably been on pins and needles, waiting to find out if I made my ridiculous, self-imposed word count goal. Well, I did it! I was up until 2:30 in the morning and it was probably all just a conglomeration of words that didn't make a teeny tiny bit of sense towards the end there but I did get it done. It felt good too. To be about where I should be word count wise and not behind. So what did I do after that? I took Friday off. Hubby was going to go visit friends for the weekend and I thought I was going to stay home so I thought that I could take Friday off to rest my brain and then hit the computer all day Saturday and Sunday so I would more than make up for Friday. Yeah, that didn't happen. I ended up going with hubby and we had a pretty fun weekend although I didn't get ahead on word count. I did finish these:
The Specs:
The Pattern: Just the Basic Sock Recipe from this book.
The needles: US Size 2 Bamboo
The Yarn: Austermann Step Sock Yarn in Color: 4?
Intended for: My Father-In-Law for Christmas
Notes: This yarn contains Jojoba oil and aloe and is said to condition feet while they are worn. I didn't notice a ton of difference on my hands while knitting it but I changed out with several projects throughout.

Since I finished those I started a new project too.
These:

They are Monkeys knit out of stashed Sockotta yarn and are to be for my Sis-in-law for Christmas. I feel like everyone but me has knit this amazingly cute pattern from Cookie A. I actually started a pair for myself a long while ago but I frogged them because I wasn't happy with the way they were coming out.

I made a trip to the Yarn Store on our way to Willmar on Saturday too but we'll talk about that another day. What? It was for Christmas Knitting Yarn, no, really. That's all I got...pretty much.
Later!

Lofty Goals

Last night I stayed up late to finish my NaNoWriMo word goal for the day. Then I went to log onto the website and update it. That was when I noticed the little note posted there by Chris Baty, the head of the NaNo team. He had challenged everyone to get their word count to 15,000 words by Monday at bedtime. He was thinking that it was a good motivation and so he was urging people to set another goal for themselves, 20,000 words by bedtime tonight, Thursday. Last night I ended at 10,555 words but I want nothing more than to be caught up with everyone else. Then I won’t feel like I’m so far behind so today I’m setting a lofty goal. Tonight by bedtime I want to have my 20,000 words. That’s about 10,000 words in one day. That means there will be basically no knitting, no crafting and no anything else today. I just have to sit and write. So of course, after an hour what am I doing? Writing a blog entry instead of writing my novel. Of course. Hubby is off work today but there are enough leftovers in the house that I think I can safely declare it: Find your own food Thursday. Which is an idea inspired by the Yarn Harlot’s Find your own food Fridays.
Having decided that eating only chocolate all day as I guzzle coffee trying to find the next few sentences buried in my brain is probably not healthy, I’m going to go eat a banana and get back to the novel. Wish me luck.
P.S. Please don’t bring this up tomorrow when I’m at 15,000 words or something like that. Thanks.

Distractions

I've been wracking my brain since I got up this morning to see if there is anything I can take a picture of to show you. Everything looks exactly the same.
I went to crochet night last night and I worked on Mom K's throw. The new strip looks exactly like the other strip. I knit on Dad K's Austermann Step Socks, the second sock looks exactly like the first sock. I'm not even at the ever so exciting heel flap or heel turn. I'm just knitting around and around on the leg so there's nothing there. I have no cute kittens at my apartment who have done adorable things and my husband lying around in his underwear is not fit for internet pictures. I've got nothing.
I've been working hard on my NaNo novel to try to get back to a respectable place in my word count. It's slowly growing. I found hubby's old laptop that doesn't work real well but does at least allow me to snuggle under the blankets in bed and write there. At least I'm more comfortable, even though the ancient battery requires that you keep it constantly plugged in. Speaking of novel writing though, that brings me to the title of this post. What is it about writing that doesn't look like anything? I can write like crazy when hubby is not home but if he's in the house, there are 25 million distractions. He has the TV on, he won't stop talking to me or asking me what's for dinner or singing along to the musical he's watching (this is an actual occurrance. He was watching some show about the Army Musical groups in WWII and singing along because he remembers watching it when he was a kid.) Then this morning as I was settling in to try to get started writing, he asks me if I want breakfast, then comes back to ask if I would please fill his water bottle as he's running behind schedule. Seriously, dude, I'm working! What is it about staring diligently at the computer and typing frantically before the ideas fall out of your head that doesn't look like work? Does anyone know?

He's off work tomorrow. Pray for me. I'll be the one in the closet with the laptop trying to get some peace and crying because I still haven't broken 10,000 words.

Still Behind

So, I'm a NaNoWriMo participant this year. I did it in 2006 but didn't end up finishing and this year I thought it would be fun to give it another go. Yeah, fun.
Due to my going out of town last week, I didn't get Nearly enough done in the way of writing, putting me quite far behind this week. I'm working to get caught up but I really don't know where I thought all the rest of the things I had to do would go.
I still have to make dinners and clean up the kitchen and the house and all the other things that happen around here. Plus, it's nearly impossible to write when my husband is home. He's always interrupting me and making noise and driving me crazy. I'm lucky if I can get half as much done in the same amount of time.
Tuesdays are meant to be for crochet and I'm thinking about crochet but I haven't touched it yet today because I've been busy. Our maintenance guy is coming to cover the air conditioner for the season tomorrow and I don't want it to look like a pigsty so I'm unpacking and organizing as fast as I can, while thinking about crocheting and thinking about writing.
Yesterday my story did grow in leaps and bounds. In the morning I had a mere 500 and something words and I'm over 5000 now so I can make progress but it's not an easy task and over half of what I wrote yesterday is probably complete crap. I'll deal with that in editing. The point right now is just to get it all on paper.
What about the Christmas project update you ask?
What? Are you kidding me?? I'm cleaning. Maybe tomorrow.

Getting Re-Caught up

Last week, I kinda disappeared. Sorry there was no warning. It was just time for a break. Both hubby and I had been sick and we were at each other's throats. I decided we needed some time to just relax and have some quiet time and I needed to have some "kitten therapy" so I went down to my mom's house. They live out in the country so there's basically no TV (they get like 4 channels) and so it's mostly quiet and I get to play with the pets and (sometimes) get a lot of knitting done.
Friday morning it looked like this outside:

Yeah, um, Surprise!

It was pretty but it sure looked like almost Christmas not almost Thanksgiving. The kittens got to go outside and see snow for the first time EVER. It was pretty cute and pretty soon their feet were cold so they came in and did this:

That's all five of the kittens curled up together in the bed on top of the dog's kennel. The two adult cats Willow and Fluffy of course wanted nothing to do with these guys so they all snuggled together to stay warm.
Yes, Freckles is bigger. He's from an earlier litter. His mother abandoned him and we found him under the wood pile.
I came home on Friday and have spent the rest of the time trying to get things back into some semblance of order. I try to (mostly) be neat but we are still unpacking so everything is still a mess. I'm working on that today but I had a big "bachelor" mess to clean up when I got home. That's what I call it when I leave and hubby goes all bachelor for a few days. He kinda reverts back to old bad habits.
Yesterday, things were finally back to the somewhat skewed version of normal we have around here and I decided that the nice crisp day (despite the fact that all the snow has melted) called for some homemade soup. Have I mentioned here before that I like to cook? yeah, this was dinner last night:

Homemade vegetable soup with alphabet pasta and homemade whole wheat bread. Yum! Actually, that's what I'll probably have for lunch today too. Only I'll toast the bread since it's no longer warm from the oven.
Since yesterday was Sunday and we usually relax on Sundays I decided I'd better get hot on the Christmas knitting so I started another pair of socks.


This yarn is the new Lion Brand Sock-Ease in the color Rock Candy. It's pretty much gray with some lime green and a hint of mauve. These are going to be socks for my step-brother Chris. (I have to specify which Chris because my other brother is also named Chris. Yeah, holidays are somewhat weird with my family. I know they don't apply to the rules of colors men will wear on their feet but I think they will work anyway. My step-brother is not what you would call a "typical" guy. He's a little odd. As you can see from this picture

I'm already past the heel turn. How did you get so far, you ask? (Let's pretend you did.)
Well, for one thing, he has size 13 feet so I didn't make the leg very long so I'd have enough yarn to finish the feet but also, this contraption helped.

Pictured here with the knitting for people who don't care.
What is it? You ask (again, let's pretend you did.)

Here is it being used. It props open my book so I can read and knit at the same time. In this way, I managed to get pretty far into my book, have some quiet time and get a whole bunch of knitting done. At this rate, I should easily be done in time for Christmas. (Please don't remind me of that statement on December 23rd when I'm crying into my coffee cup.)
I think that's enough for today. Tomorrow, we'll probably have an update on said Christmas knitting.
One more thing though.
Some Congratulations are in order to this guy:

My brother Chris pictured here with Trouble on my parents' couch. (Not the one these socks are for though so no worries. His Christmas Gifts are on super, double secret alert.) Anyway, congratulations are due because he's engaged. (Not to the cat though so don't worry about that.)

Election Day

Today is November 4 and it's Election day for those of us here in the United States. It's a pretty important one too. We are electing our president so please go out and vote. I've already been. As evidenced by my I voted sticker. Shown here:

It's pictured with my finished Regia socks.
The specs:
The Pattern: My usual made up 3x1 rib pattern. Easy to knit since I know the pattern well. (I made it up.)
The Needles: US Size 2. Knit mostly on Brittany Birch needles which aren't my favorite and then one Bamboo was added since one of my Brittanys broke.
The Yarn: Regia 4-Fach Haltbar in color: 5753. I used two skeins and have a small amount leftover.
The Size: Knit to Men's size 10
The Recipient: My dad who will get these for Christmas.
My Notes: I like this yarn pretty well. It wasn't as great as I thought it would be but it might just be project ennui that has me saying that. I honestly love the socks and I think my dad will love them too so it's all good. I would definitely use this yarn again. :)

Whew, one more Christmas gift finished.

In other news: I had a horrible weekend. For the most part it was fun. We went down to our friends' house on Friday night for our Halloween Celebration. It was pretty fun and I scored a cute pic of our friends all dressed up but I don't have their permission so I prolly shouldn't post it. Then, the unfun part started. Hubby got sick. As in: Up ALL night sick. Throwing up. We still stayed at his parents' that night and then pretty much all of Sunday. We got home around 9 and I proceeded to be up all night sick. Yesterday hubby was still somewhat iffy and I was really sick so he stayed home and took care of me. I'm still somewhat iffy but I'm eating saltines and drinking water so I *should* be able to make it to crochet night tonight. Here's hoping!
That's why, even though I signed up and I'm all gung ho, my NaNoWriMo Word count is 0. I'm Kalkette there as well so feel free to friend me there if you wish. Now I'm off to try to get some writing done.

Happy Halloween

What is up with me?? I'm so not a morning person and yet this morning as hubby was leaving for work at 6:40 am and came to kiss me goodbye I woke up and have been up ever since. At least there's a Ghost Hunters marathon on today. Plus of course there's coffee.

So, today is Halloween and while I don't get big into the celebration of this holiday I am going over to a friend's house to watch movies and hang out. It has apparently been decided that this is a costume event. I attempted yarn dreads but they didn't work out. I just don't think I was doing it right plus my hair is too short to easily do it I think

Other than playing with the yarn for that I haven't been doing much knitting. Hubby and I played Monopoly last night instead. We didn't finish the game, just left it on the table. I'm winning but that's not a good indication. I always lose at Monopoly. And I mean ALWAYS. As in, in the hundreds of times in my life I've played monopoly, I don't think I have EVER won.

Yeah, I suck. In other news. NaNoWriMo is about to start. Is anyone else doing it? I am although I'm nowhere near ready or planned or anything. Gonna try it anyway. I'm kalkette there as well if anyone would like to friend me.
Meanwhile, I'm off to figure out another costume idea. Stupid halloween and unplanned people.

It's Gonna Be an "Interesting" Day

Last night hubby and I didn't get to sleep until after midnight. We just get into that stay-up-late mode and can't get to sleep. Despite that, my eyes popped open at 5:00 am. Almost exactly at 5. Good grief. The last thing I wanted was to be up at that ungodly hour. Hubby got up at six and I bundled him off to work a couple of hours ago. (Despite what blogger says, it's almost 8:30 here not six something.)
I got up and came into the living room to the computer. I picked up my computer sock and found this:

You may not be able to see in this terrible picture but it's my Brittany needles. One of them is broken. I'm not thrilled with these needles anyway but honestly, I am very frustrated that one of them is now broken.
I've replaced it with a bamboo dpn and am continuing to knit away on these socks. This is the second of the pair and I'm starting to think they might be cursed. It is almost halloween after all. The first one took forever and as I was about ready to begin the toe decreases I realized that there was a dropped stitch at the heel. I don't know how it managed to stay in one place but something had to be done. After the sheer torture of knitting that ridiculously long foot (they're for my dad who has size 10 feet. Not so bad but much longer than my feet so it gets frustrating) I couldn't face ripping them back. I finally decided to just ladder it up, leaving a kind of tight row of stitches along the foot. I'm hoping it will block out. It was a traveling sock for awhile so I'm guessing that's how it ended up broken but it hasn't travelled anywhere for at least a couple of days so I don't know how it happened.
I'm so tired. I think I might go take a nap. Then I don't have to deal with the sock.

Still waiting for the lightning strike

So, yesterday I mentioned crochet and my head didn't explode. I wasn't struck dead by a bolt of lightning. Actually, nothing bad happened. Except of course, I'm obsessed.
Yeah, I started a little stash busting exercise of crocheting a dishcloth out of four strands of the tiny crochet thread you use for doilies. (I have a lot which is not entirely my fault.) It turned out really nice which got me to thinking about other color combinations. Yeah, I am doing a second dishcloth in the red and now I've started a gold and white one too.
Sheesh. At least I think I could use them as Christmas gifts so its not only stash-busting but also Christmas gifting.
They're way too boring to take pictures of. I'm also not posting them as projects on Ravelry. It's really not worth the effort. Maybe once they're done I'll take a picture of them all together to post here. We'll see.

As an added note to the other person who lives in this apartment:
No man was ever shot while doing the dishes and it wouldn't kill you to wipe up the crumbs you left everywhere either.

Tuesdays are for Crochet

So, since I do the open Crochet night at our local Crafts store on Tuesday nights I have determined that Tuesdays should be for Crochet.
I finished my epic project last week. The throw for my cousin so I had to start something new. Here it is:





Yeah, anyone else see the problem here?

After any kind of big project I usually need a little bit of a mental break before I can start something else.
I need to find a project today. I don't know where to begin.

Meanwhile, I knit socks on our trip up north and at least managed to finish one. Still a long way to go until Christmas knitting is done though.

killme. killme. killme.

This is what has been running through my head for the last several days. Kill me. Kill me. Kill me. Our friend Mike attended our October Birthdays gathering of friends last weekend. He had this nasty cold. Despite the fact that we stayed far away from him, I am definitely sick with a nasty terrible version of this same cold. (But I'm not bitter or anything). I am seriously considering sending him an email chastising him for exposing me to this nasty, horrible cold but I don't have the energy to type that. Plus that means opening a whole new web page. I don't have the strength.

I also suddenly realized how close we are coming to the deadline for the wedding throw. Yeah, the wedding is THIS Saturday. As in 72 hours from now. (How sad is it that my brain is so germ-addled that I had to ask hubby how many days 72 hours is to make sure that I had it right. I'm still not entirely sure that I am right about it being three days away but oh well.) So, yesterday, and the day before if you're keeping track, I bribed myself with a game. I downloaded this really addicting game onto my cell phone called Collapse Chaos. I want to do nothing but play it all day long. In order to make myself finish the throw, I told myself that I could play one level of the game every time I finished one round of the throw. It worked.

Here it is; preblocked.

It's been a pain in the arse and I am thoroughly sick of it but it's finally done and it will be a beautiful gift. It's spread out over my bed right now. I'm hoping it will be dry before I want to go to sleep. Since I kinda feel like going to sleep right now and it's still quite wet, I think it might be an issue.

Since I have been in deep, deep denial about the deadline for this project, I did manage to finish this:

It's a pair of socks for my mother for Christmas. They are knit out of SWTC's Tofuttsies. I think they turned out pretty well so I'm glad they are done and look good.

As another entire branch of my denial I also started this:

It's going to be a scarf. It's knit using the Yarn Harlot's One-Row Handspun Scarf pattern and it's knit of Patons Decor in Autumn Varg. I have two skeins and plan to just knit until I run out. I'm using size 6 needles which is smaller than I would normally have chosen but I didn't like the color repeats on size 8s and I have this nice wooden pair of 6s so there you go. (I'm not bitter about the fact that I was about a foot and a half into the pattern when I realized I didn't like the color repeats on 8s or anything. Not at all. No, never. Okay, maybe just a little bit.) I bought this yarn without thinking last year to knit felted clogs for my cousin. She really loves these autumn colors. Yeah, check the label before using dummy. They are not feltable. They aren't 100% wool. I even swatched and attempted felting to make sure it wouldn't work. It doesn't. So now it will be a scarf for her. The purple will match her coat and I think she'll love the colors so it should make a really nice Christmas gift for her.

I'm going to go drink some tea and blow my nose for the millionth time. Maybe by Saturday I won't want to be killed anymore.

Counting down

So, yesterday, at about 5:00 am when I was still freaking up because I couldn't sleep, I took a long, hard look at the calendar. Yeah, um, we are in trouble.

Disclaimer: If you are faint or have a heart condition look away. Do not read the following sentence!

As of today it is 74 days until Christmas.

Yes, that's right. 74 days. I feel sick.

To make myself feel better about my complete and utter lack of finished projects. Okay, I think I've finished 2. My list is pretty long though. I finished something.

This is the first sock of what will hopefully be a pair by Christmas. They are knit of Tofuttsies on size 2 needles and they are going to be for my mom.

My original plan was to knit the French Silk Sock Pattern from Knitting Vintage socks by Nancy Bush (too tired to link it.) I knit the cuff and then got into the leg pattern and decided the leg pattern is too intricate for the yarn which is kinda busy in itself so I just knit them plain after the cuff.

This picture is pretty accurate as far as colors go. My mom's favorite color is Fuschia and since these are a sort of Hot pink/fuschia I thought she'd like it. It actually varies a little too. If you look closely you can see that. The yarn goes from pink to deep burgundy to a very red red and back again, all while barberpoling with white. Pretty but I think the pattern would have been WAY too much.

Here's a close up of the cuff.

I don't know why it's kinda blurry.

The only downside? I find the yarn has a kind of weird smell. It's gotten better after I let it sit a bit but I think my hands smell funny after I knit with it. I'm not too worried because once they are washed I'm sure it won't be a big deal but for now I feel like I constantly need to wash my hands.

Oh well, they're worth it.

Am I Really That Versatile?

Okay, so I promised a little chat about Versatility.

When the new Knitty came out this month, as always, I looked through the sock patterns. Then I kinda clicked around on the other stuff too. I don't knit a lot of sweaters because they are big and if I want decent sweaters (which I do) I will have to spend a lot more on yarn. Not that I have a problem with that but it's not so much in the budgets right now. So, instead I knit socks in perpetuity. They require less yarn and are therefore cheaper to knit and provide endless hours of knitting entertainment.

Well, I happened to click on Versatility on the latest edition of Knitty. At first my thought was: What the HE11 is that?! Then I clicked away. But that image stuck in my head.

I would go do something else and *pop* there it would be, haunting my brain.

*pop* Hmm, Kinda like a stole. In bulky yarn though. I'm a bigger girl, I don't know if Bulky yarn is the way to go for me.

*pop* It could be a sweater style thing too though. Hmm, I could do that. It would change around. That would be nice.

*pop* A Shrug. I've been wanting to knit a shrug and this way, if I don't end up liking it as a shrug, I can wear it other ways and then I don't have a shrug that I won't wear.

*pop* Why don't I go and look up what size needles and how much yarn it takes.

*pop* Suddenly I find myself printing the pattern.

*pop* Then I'm searching for Yarn. Where do I go? Blue Moon Fiber Arts of course. I found something I liked: Icelandic in Valkyrie but I would need 2 skeins and at $30.00 apiece that would be $60. For something I wasn't sure about.

I took the pattern to my mom's to show her. She liked it too.

Then I went to the store with her. Just so she could drop off a roll of film. (Yeah, I know, she's old school.) I happened to wander into the craft section. That's where I found it.

Clearance Yarn.

Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick. In Charcoal Gray for...

$4.00/skein. That's right. Only $16.00 for the whole project.

The frugal knitter in me squealed with glee.

I managed to find 2 sets of 2 dyelots so I got four skeins in 2 dyelots so I'm alternating.

If I love the pattern as much as I **hope** I will, then I will probably still get the Blue Moon stuff and make another.

Meanwhile:

I did a gauge swatch immediately and cast it on moments later.

The pattern calls for size 10.5 needles. The yarn recommends 13s. I am using 11s. It's slightly wider but since I am "slightly wider" than the model in the pictures, I think that's okay.

This picture is more accurate color-wise. It's a really fast knit. I will probably make it a bit shorter than the pattern calls for as well because my wingspan is only about 64" and the pattern calls for 71. That would be kinda big.

Well, there it is, my new obsession. That I'm making myself stay away from. I have to finish that throw. Then, I will be able to knit obsessively on this.

The hive mind says:

Versatility, versatility, versatility.

Deadline Knitting

So, apparently I do well under pressure. I don't know why I let myself get under pressure but I definitely do. Case in point:

This is supposed to be a gift for my cousin. For her wedding coming up on the 25th of THIS month. Why I waited so long to start it I have no idea. I had the materials months ago. Now I'm finding that my original plan (which was to take a thread crochet doily pattern and crochet it with larger yarn and a bigger hook so it made a throw) isn't making it big enough so now I'm trying to figure out how to expand the pattern to make it bigger. Eep!

I also have about 7 pairs of socks going. I keep saying I should cut back so I can get some done but with Christmas coming up that just isn't happening. When I finally finish something, I immediately start something new.

I finished these lovely socks for my Mother-In-Law for Christmas.

Specs:

Yarn: 1 skein Alpaca Yarn Co Handpainted Sock Yarn

Needles: Size 2 needles.

The pattern: Waffle Socks, somewhat improvised because I couldn't find the pattern I wanted.

Finished Size: Ladies Size Medium

Notes: This picture does them absolutely no justice. The color is more of a warm reddish brown with some blue and grey.

Within 24 hours I cast on these:

Austermann Step Socks for my Father-in-Law for Christmas. They are the ones that have Aloe and Jojoba oil in them. I'm looking forward to it conditioning my hands and then my Father-in-Law can enjoy the conditioning of his feet. I just started these last Friday but I took them to the movies so I got a good bit done while watching Batman: The Dark Knight. Excellent movie but very say that Heath Ledger is now gone. But then again I live with a comic book geek guy so I can't really be unbiased.

Maybe tomorrow I will talk about my obsession with this.

Procrastinating

Hmm, what am I supposed to be doing right now?

Not blogging.

Actually, I'm supposed to be baking a cheesecake for hubby's potluck at work tomorrow. I totally don't mind it and I actually like baking but, I'm not in the mood right now.

Tonight is the crochet class I'm teaching. I think it will be fun and I'm excited about it but I just got home from my mom's house this morning so I really just feel like lying in bed sleeping today because I didn't sleep well at all last night.

So, let's talk projects. Hmm, I'm still working on the second Waffley goodness sock. It's coming along. Hey, at least it's cast on! No second sock syndrome here. What else? I started another sock but it's ugly so I don't know if I want to even bother taking a picture of it. I'm sure you're asking yourself "why would she be knitting socks she thinks are ugly?". Well, I bought the yarn awhile ago to make socks for myself but I decided that I don't care for the colors in the yarn. Just not my style. So what's the solution? Christmas presents of course. Not sure who these will go to and in the pattern I chose; they're actually not that bad but just not my taste.

I still haven't cast on for my Mystery Stole 4 but I do have the yarn and beads picked out so it's just a matter of picking a day when nothing else is going on and sitting down and getting going. Especially since I would like to be able to knit both halves at once. I think it would feel good to not have to knit it again when I've finished the first one.

Well, I guess I'd better quit procrastinating and get baking.

A Tribute to My Dogs

Once upon a time in a land not-so far away. There lived a young girl with her mother and brother. It was a very exciting time for them because the mother was buying a house and for the first time, they would own their own home.
About two weeks before they moved the aunt brough a small fuzzy bundle to the brother.

She was sweet and kind and beautiful and a little ball of mostly black fuzz. She had just a wee bit of mischief in her and a soft, kind heart. So much so that on her little nest of our unmatched socks she scared herself with her first bark.

The following weekend another small black fuzzy bundle arrived. A brother to the first he was protective and caring and loving.

Our family was complete and we named them Hero and Bandit and they soon grew into their names. Hero was our protector and would have protected us from all wrongs if it was at all possible. Bandit was our sweet little girl with the "magic" white paw and she stole a chocolate chip cookie from the kitchen table where they were set to cool.

They made the teenage years not as awful as they could have been and while our family suffered some pretty nasty turmoil it was them alone who kept us all together. Our love for them that wouldn't let us all break apart. In the winter of 2004 Bandit got sick. Her kidneys had some kind of problem and she slowly withered away. The vet told us she was living on our loving care alone. On the morning of Valentine's Day 2005, she went outside to the freshly fallen snow that she loved so much and laid down and didn't get up again.

Our beloved girl was gone and our poor Hero lived on. It was difficult but we got past it. Then in the spring of 2008 we found a lump on our Hero's leg. We took him to the vet but she said the surgery would be hard on him with his heart murmur and his age. Without the surgery we couldn't know for sure what the tumor was and how bad it would be but we knew that it would spread and that his time was limited. We made the difficult decision to let him live his last days peacefully at home.

For awhile he was fine but soon it became apparent that he was fading. Then on September 9, he lay down to nap and passed away. And what do you think was on the Knitter's needles? Rainbow socks. To go with the Rainbow Bridge. And so as she finished the toe of the first, she fashioned an H into the stitches of the toe.

As soon as that toe was kitchenered she knew what she would have to do. She knit the second and put a little B onto the toe.

And so, here they are, the finished rainbow bridge socks for her Hero and Bandit.

I'm just going to go cry quietly now. Thanks for listening to me ramble on.

Nothing much to say

So, I have no new and interesting pictures to show you today. I'm trying to post more often so, let's see.
Well, I'm knitting frantically on my Hero's socks because I'd like to have them finished for a family thing on Saturday. Other than that I'm not doing too much knitting.
I've been doing other house stuff (like making hubby take out the garbage and recycling.) and washing the dishes but that's about all on that front.
Tonight I am going to a knitting meet-up with some Ravelry people. It should be fun. I'm actually not totally freaking out about it so that's a good sign. I have to go look at my map and figure out where it is though so I'd better get that done before dinner.
I'm teaching a crochet class on Monday so tomorrow night I'm going to practice by trying to teach hubby to crochet. That should be quite an adventure. I may have to take pictures of that.

Socks are flying off my needles

Lately I've had this sort of project angst. I get bored with everything. Maybe partially because I feel guilty when I'm knitting that I'm not unpacking. It doesn't make me unpack any more but it does make me feel bad that I'm not unpacking. What's the solution? Start a bunch of new pairs of socks of course.

Let's start with these:

The yarn is Plymouth Yarns Happy Feet and I love, love, love it. The pattern is Emily's Socks from 2-at-Time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes. I tried to do socks two on one circular but it didn't work for me. Maybe if I can try another needle a different time, it will work but for now, no. The pattern is written for children but I sized it up to fit my clodhoppers. I wasn't sure about the color of the yarn but it looks beautiful in this pattern and now, means something to me.

While knitting these socks, my beloved Hero died.

He was fifteen years old and sick so it's good that he's in a better place but it still hurts and it still sucks. I miss him every day. But, he died while I was knitting these socks with the rainbow yarn.

Check out this to understand http://rainbowsbridge.com/Poem.htm so now they are my Hero socks.

I can't talk about that anymore so let's move on. To Christmas presents. Yes, I'm planning ahead. Last year I finished the last project on Christmas Eve morning and while I could totally see myself doing it again, I'd rather not. So, Here are the Waffley Goodness socks

These are knit of Alpaca Sock Yarn and they are for my Mother-in-Law for Christmas. I think they are really beautiful and soft and I hope she will like them a lot.

I went to a movie with some friends last weekend. Babylon A.D. with Vin Diesel. It was only okay but I did manage to get some knitting done in the theater on these:

They are just a basic ribbed sock knit in Regia. they are intended for my dad and I know he will like them. I knit him socks last year for Christmas and he wears them every Sunday for Church.

I have one other pair of socks lying around but I'm not really sure what to do with them.

The last time I stopped into my LYS I picked up some Maizy sock yarn to try it out. It's nice and I like the yarn but I'm not thrilled with how it's knitting up in these basic toe-up socks so I think a good frogging is in order and a new pattern needs to be chosen.

Well, that's pretty much it for now. I'd better go and get some unpacking done today.

Grey Skies will finally clear up

So, finally we had a smidge of sun today and I was able to get some pictures of the current projects.

First though, the long, long, long awaited MS3.

Preblocked

During Blocking

Cue heavenly-sounding chorus

Tah-Dah!

This is knit out of Indie II yarn 55% silk, 45% cashmere from Little Knits It's so soft and floaty, I just adore it. Plus the pattern is beautiful and I can't wait until I can wear it somewhere. Never mind that I know of nowhere that I could wear it. (I'm not exactly glamorous.)

Hmm, looking at this, I know none of my other boring little socks will be able to compete so let's save those pics for another day, shall we?

Blocking...Please wait.

It feels like so much has been going on but in actuality it's been the same old, same old.
I have been unpacking the last of our boxes. Yay! Finally. But our tiny apartment is still full of them so I still have a ways to go and I have been doing some knitting. I say some but really I have had a wicked case of startitis and it has made my attention span even less than usual.
I cast on 4 new pairs of socks. That doesn't mean that I finished any though. I just cast on more.
I'm starting to think about Christmas gifts though so most of what I have cast on is for that.
I have finished the knitting of my Mystery Stole 3 and it is blocking right now. It's very exciting. It's the first major lace project that I've done and it's so exciting I can hardly believe it.
I picked out the yarn for Mystery Stole 4 and I printed off the clues but I haven't actually wound the yarn or started yet. I'm excited to but I know that it requires some attention span. I'm not sure that I have enough attention span right now.
You can't tell but I'm typing really fast, I think it may be time to stop drinking coffee today. Hmm, maybe not, I have to do the laundry now.
I'll post pictures of new socks and such soon but it's really grey and icky today so I don't think anything will turn out.